BT explained: is the biggest provider the best?

BT (www.BT.com) is the provider that does it all. Standard broadband? Check. Superfast fibre? Check. Subscription TV and exclusive live sports? Check and check. Available almost everywhere? Big check. It’s no surprise then that it’s the biggest broadband provider in the UK.

Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the best for you. In this guide, we’ll look at what you can get from BT, what we think are its strengths and weaknesses, and what BT’s own customers think of the provider.

Why BT?

Thinking of switching your broadband, TV and home phone to BT? Well, in this video we give you plenty of reasons to make that switch.If you considering BT as your broadband, tv and home phone provider- here are some of the great features that you could get. With the BT TV package you can get all of your favourite Freeview channels plus 7 day catch-up and on-demand services. You can also get BBC 1 and 2 HD, ITV HD and Channel4 HD. The introduction of BT Sport, means that new and existing BT broadband customers have access to all BT Sport 1 and BT Sport 2. These channels will include Barclays Premier League games, Aviva Premiership Rugby and much more. With a YouView box, you can pause, rewind and catch-up on your favourite TV programs. You can record up to 300 hours of SD programming or up to 125 hours of HD programming The YouView box also lets to you catch-up on the previous 7 days of television through on-demand players like BBC iPlayer and 4oD. BT offers both ADSL and fibre broadband. It is also currently one of the only UK ISPs to offer truly unlimited broadband. This means that they will not slow you down, even during peak times. The new BT Home Hub router gives a strong wireless N signal. It's also easy to set up and use. With any BT broadband package, you will have access to a massive network of free Wi-Fi hotspots all of the UK and the world. They have over 4.5million points of access across the UK - 500,000 of which are in London. As a BT customer, you will be given a minimum of 2GB of online storage. With this, you can backup or store any files that you want. With all BT broadband packages, customers get inclusive weekend calls. You can also upgrade to evening and weekend calls, or unlimited anytime calls. To see if BT is available in your area, do a postcode check on our website - broadbandchoices.co.uk

What does BT do?

BT Broadband

When it comes to broadband, BT is all things to all people. It has one of the broadest selections of broadband packages around, offering everything from affordable packages with 10GB or 20GB usage limits - a good choice for light users who only want email and browse the web - to truly unlimited packages that let you download as much as you like - great for people who stream a lot of TV and movies online. You get online storage and BT Sport thrown in for no extra cost too.

Fibre’s a big step up from standard broadband, offering faster download and upload speeds, and more reliability. It’s a sensible choice for families and shared houses, or just people who use the web extensively for watching movies and TV, downloading music, gaming, video calls and more.

BT sells its fibre optic broadband as BT Infinity, and offers a choice between speeds of up to 38Mb - with a 20GB usage limit or truly unlimited - or up to 76Mb - truly unlimited-only. Typical contracts are 18 months long, although 12-month deals are available.

BT TV is based around YouView, which lets you pause, rewind and record Freeview channels, and access lots of on-demand TV. It’s all very nicely integrated - for example, if you miss an episode of your favourite show, you can simply scroll back to it in the interactive guide and start watching it on the relevant catch-up service. BT Sport is included, naturally, and you can also add extra channels like Sky Sports. You can even get Netflix if you want.

You have three basic options. TV Starter gives you a YouView box with no recording function - though you can still pause and rewind. TV Essential gives a YouView+ box, which includes the ability to record, and TV Entertainment gives you that and 20 extra channels, including Discovery Channel, MTV, Comedy Central and Fox.

BT TV is only available with BT broadband. It’s cheaper than Sky and Virgin Media TV, although it has fewer channels and features.

Although with some BT broadband packages you pay for calls as you make them, most come with a call plan. The cheapest option is Unlimited Weekend Calls, which let you call UK landlines for free on Saturdays and Sundays. You can also choose an Evening & Weekends - inclusive landline calls on weekends and between 7pm and 7am on weekdays - or Unlimited Anytime Calls - inclusive landline calls… erm, anytime.

Whether you’re setting up your own business or a home office, BT Business might be a better choice than home broadband. BT Business packages are primarily aimed at small and medium-sized businesses, and range from 10GB usage limits - suitable for sole traders - to superfast unlimited options - good for an office. You can also get leased lines, statics IP addresses and more.

BT reviews

In our last Customer Satisfaction Awards, BT customers were largely positive about the provider. They rated BT highly for quality and reliability, activation speed and commended the BT Home Hub router. However, they were more critical when it came to value for money and the speed of its broadband.

Why do we need your postcode?

We don’t want to show you a load of deals that you can’t actually get, that’s just annoying. So, by giving us your postcode we can just show you only the deals available where you live. Easy, and, contrary to popular opinion, we know it’s not always good to share, so we won’t be passing your postcode or details on to anyone else. Take a look at our privacy policy to find out more.

Frequently Asked Questions

All you need is a BT phone line. If you haven’t got one, you can compare new line deals with us. If you’re getting a new line installed on its own, it will usually cost you £40 if you order online or £130 if you order by telephone, but if you get it with BT broadband or BT TV it’s free.

BT has broadband packages that offers download speeds of up to 16Mb and fibre optic broadband packages that offer speeds of up to 38Mb and up to 76Mb. However, these speeds are based on what 10% of BT broadband customers get, so there’s no guarantee you’ll get similar speeds.

Basically, it all comes down to how much you use the internet and what you use it for. If you only go online for a couple of hours a day tops to check your email and Facebook and do a bit of shopping, then a package with an up to speed of 16Mb and 10GB monthly usage allowance will do you fine.
If, on the other hand, you live in a house full of people who are constantly catching up on Match Of The Day on BBC iPlayer, downloading films to put on their iPad, video calling friends in Australia and playing Xbox games online, then a totally unlimited BT Infinity package would be just the job.

While you may have long ago replaced making calls on your landline with making calls on your mobile, you’ll still have to pay line rental to get BT broadband. This is because both regular broadband and fibre optic broadband is delivered using the telephone network.
All BT broadband packages have weekend calls - those made to numbers starting with 01, 02 or 03 - excluding those in the Channel Islands - and to 0845 and 0870 numbers between midnight Friday and midnight Sunday - included.

If your email address is the one your current provider gave you with your broadband package, rather than one from a specialist email service like Gmail or Outlook - formerly Hotmail - unfortunately we can’t say for sure whether you’d be able to keep it if you switch to BT.
This is because most providers don’t have a hard and fast line on it, but generally the chances are you’ll lose your email address when you switch - whether it’s immediately or some time afterwards. Your best bet is to ask your current provider and then set up an alternative email if necessary.

You get BT Sport free online and on your mobile with all BT broadband packages. Simply be signing up to one, you'll be able to watch all three BT Sport channels - BT Sport 1, BT Sport 2 and ESPN - online via BTSport.com or on your smartphone or tablet using the BT Sport app.
If you get BT TV with BT Infinity, you'll get all three channels on your telly and in high-definition (HD), as well as online and on the go, for free.

ndeed you can, which, together with BT Sport, would allow you could watch 154 Barclays Premier League matches each season - roughly one-fifth of those played - live from the comfort of your own living room.
To get Sky Sports with BT TV you’ll need BT Infinity. You’ll get a BT Vision+ box rather than a YouView from BT box due to a barney with Sky, so you’ll be able to pause, rewind and record live TV and watch stuff on-demand as with YouView, but won’t get catch-up TV from BBC iPlayer and what not.

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